Chapter 1: Anonymity
Anonymity is the first chapter of the Nononono manga. Synopsis In the midst of heavy snowfall, a young man arrives to a ski jumping ramp, called an inrun, and sits at the very top to judge the length and height of the ramp. He remarks that if he messes up this jump, he might die, but his thoughts are interrupted by officials working at the inrun. They notice his ski boards and are in disbelief that someone would want to jump from the ramp during the storm. They try to warn him off the ramp, saying people have died trying to pull the same stunt as he, but the young man doesn't listen. After adjusting his goggles, the young man descends from the takeoff gate, much to the workers' shock. He tumbles when he lands, but is otherwise unscathed. However, he seems disappointed, saying "telemarking in this (storm) is impossible." and flees the scene. After the young man departs, one of the workers immediately calls for security to try and find the young man, as he realizes something particular about the way he landed. Upon further investigation, they discover he landed past the K Point without being hurt, which should have been impossible. While one of the men fails to see the significance, another explains that the way the young skier landed would for sure have won him a medal if it happened in The Olympics. In the following scene, a man and woman named Yoda and Muramatsu are spectating at a jumping event, with the woman loudly complaining about the cold. Yoda, Muramatsu's boss, remarks about a "high-potential rookie" who's set to jump that day, pointing him out to her from where they stand. The jumper, Masashi Katou, won the inter-high event in his senior year, placing him third in the national competition, and is set to join the national team the next season. Muramatsu woman asks her boss how high the kid's potential is since he can see someone's potential just by looking at them, to which he says the jumper has a "formidable green aura" and will become a world-class player. Muramatsu scoffs and says there's no way Yoda could see things like that, much to his irritation. The two further comment on the jumpers, with Muramatsu wondering why there aren't any women amongst the potential jumpers. Yoda says it's "natural selection," and that women "simply cannot achieve the basic Olympic standards of ski jumping" and that men fly further and better than women in the sport. Naturally, she wonders why there's so much discrimination in the sport, but brushes it off as ski jumpers being "whacked up in the head" especially since they think they're flying when jumping. Katou jumps down from the takeoff gate the next moment, and Muramatsu, stunned by his jump, mutters that he's flying. Yoda asks her what she thinks of the first jump she's ever seen, to which she replies she still thinks he's seriously messed up in the head. Meanwhile, Katou is shouted at by his coach for not telemarking (the pose jumpers take upon landing) on the landing. Katou doesn't take it seriously, saying it'd look cooler if he flew further than safely telemarked. While he continues talking to his coach, Yoda and Muramatsu discuss telemarking and how some jumpers believe achieving a great distance can overcome a shortage of style points, which are given for telemarking. Muramatsu then goes to interview the audience for the jump, which consists of schoolchildren. Among the children is the young man from the beginning of the chapter, who has his ski boards in hand. She asks him how it feels to see such a gifted ski jumper, to which he replies it was "a disappointment" and goes on to criticize Katou's jump. Katou's coach overhears, amazed a kid knows so much about the sport. The young man goes on to say he'd fly even further if it were him, which Katou overhears. He challenges the young man to a contest between the two of them to see who can jump farther, and if the newcomer loses, he has to jump again in the nude. Katou then says if he loses, he'll "grab his balls and jump like a flying squirrel." Naturally, the newcomer agrees. While wondering who this upstart is, Yoda's "potential sensing" ability shows him the boy's aura, roaring up in front of him like a flame. In utter shock, he asks him for his name, and the boy introduces himself as Yuuta Nonomiya, a 3rd year student in middle school. Not recognizing the name, Yoda can only stand back in utter awe at who this mystery jumper is. Yuuta goes up to the gate for first for the jump, giving Katou a cruel, arrogant look beforehand. Down below, Yoda and Muramatsu take bets on who will land further, with Yoda immediately betting on Yuuta. Right after settling on the betting amount, another man comes up with information on Yuuta Nonomiya. As it turns out, Nonomiya placed 85 out of 89 in the Hokkaido regionals and dropped out as a result, and the current year makes the third consecutive year he's been a dropout. Muramatsu can only laugh hysterically at the new information, while Yoda stares on, dumbfounded.. Up on the ramp, Katou's coach tells Yuuta to get off the gate, as he'll clearly only get hurt since he was 85th in the regionals. Rather than heed the warning, Yuuta takes the chance to jump. To everyone's surprise, Yuuta jump sends him very high in the air. He bypasses the slope that would allow any other jumper to safely land, leaving Yoda to fear he'll kill himself in the landing. However, Yuuta not only lands safely, but does the telemark pose as well, able to come to a complete stop at the bottom without visibly injuring himself. He also breaks the Bakken Record, 101.5 meters, in the process. Infuriated by this embarrassment, Katou gears up to jump next, but is talked down from jumping by his coach, who insists he could never make the distance this new kid just made. Yoda is ecstatic that not only did he win the bet, but that he was present to see such a potentially Olympic jumper, but Yuuta speeds off before they can talk for long. Later on, Yuuta comes up to the shack he lives in and disrobes for the day, wondering if he left a good impression. It's through the disrobing that Yuuta's secret is revealed only to the audience: Yuuta is really a girl, pretending to be a boy in order to gain entry to the Olympics and win the gold medal for ski jumping. Ski Jumping Terms Explained in This Chapter * K Point: The maximum point where a ski jumper can land safely. In addition to serving as the determining factor for ski jumper safety during a landing, the K Point also determines how many distance points the skier will be awarded for their jump. * Telemarking: the pose ski jumpers take upon landing. The pose consists of the arms held out horizontally, with one's legs spread out front and back. * Outrun: the area past the K Point, the very end of the track * Distance Points: Points awarded for distance * Judge (Style) Points: Points awarded for technique Category:Manga Chapters